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“We are no longer respected anywhere. We are laughed at. We have become the butt of jokes as a country.”
This was former President Donald Trump’s most important message during his CPAC speech last week. This previews the next campaign’s central issue: Respect.
2024 will be a “respect election,” and President Trump already understands that. One of the things voters will have to decide is whether they respect the weak Biden or the unpredictable Trump more, but a big factor in that assessment will be which other countries respect (and fear) more. , follow).
Between President Biden and former President Trump, who do enemies most respect (and therefore fear) and who do allies most respect (and therefore are willing to obey)? It is very clear that our enemies neither respect nor fear Team Biden, and they have come to very much fear Trump.
Iran put a lot of pressure on Mr. Trump and his Red Line, and Quds Force commander Soleimani paid the price.
Putin first invaded Ukraine when President Obama was president, then when President Biden was president. President Putin did not provoke President Trump in Ukraine because President Trump had already sent deadly aid to Ukraine. It is very easy to determine who Putin respects as an enemy.
Chinese communists publicly criticized Secretary of State Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Although General Secretary Xi frequently clashed with President Trump over personal matters and policy, the dictator’s henchmen did not despise the Trump team (although many of the former president’s team joined the Chinese Communist Party after leaving power). sanctioned).
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The national security team that President Trump brings to key positions in the White House, State Department, Pentagon, DNI, CIA, and FBI, as well as the Attorney General and Treasury Secretary, will be critical to restoring respect abroad. And voters can easily pull the lever on Trump. To that end, many people and several groups have compiled lists suggesting who a re-elected Trump should appoint to which jobs.
It would certainly be great politics if candidate Trump released his own list of potential candidates for major institutions and the most important jobs in the White House. Respect comes primarily from the president’s name and actions, and not from the vice president, senior staff, or cabinet members, but some of it comes from the dignity of the team as a whole. Thus, the creation of the list began. But Trump’s list is the only one that matters.
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“The work being done by various nonprofit organizations is certainly appreciated and could be very helpful,” Trump campaign senior advisers Susie Wiles and Chris Lacivita said in a statement in November. “None of these organizations or individuals, however, represent President Trump or his campaign. Formal transition efforts will be announced at a later date.”
Granted, I don’t speak for the campaign or the former president, but if you draw a Venn diagram, you’ll see: (1) national security experts that President Trump respects; (2) those respected and feared by the enemies of our nation-state; (3) People our allies may not like very much, but they respect. and (4) who can get Senate confirmation, if necessary (the White House Chief of Staff and National Security Adviser do not require confirmation); the list of names in the middle of the Venn diagram is not that long. do not have.
Former U.S. president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump leaves after speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February 24, 2024 in National Harbor, Maryland. (Mandel Gann/AFP via Getty Images)
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor O’Brien, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, former Acting Director of National Intelligence Rick Grenell, former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, former Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, and Robert Wright. Former U.S. Trade Representatives Heiser all enjoyed the respect and trust of former presidents, as did Tom Cotton, Joni Ernst, Lindsey Graham, Dan Sullivan, and Florida Congressman Michael Walz. Find the most important jobs on your national security team among these 10 of his top experts. Selected are the Department of State, Department of Defense, Attorney General, DNI, CIA, FBI, White House Chief of Staff, and National Security Advisor.
Similarly, keep an eye out for the return of Trump supporters and highly qualified experts to other key positions. Ambassadors David Friedman (Israel), George Glass (Portugal), Ed McMullen (Switzerland) and other first-term Cabinet and deputy Trump alumni are expected to return. Ben Carson, Alex Gray, Jamison Greer, KT McFarland, Stephen Miller, Mary Kissel, Keith Clack, Larry Kudrow, Stephen Miller, Morgan Ortagus, Julia Nesheiwat, Kimberly Reed, Russ Vought, Ray Washburn.
Admiral Philip Davidson (U.S. Navy, retired) retired from the Navy in the spring of 2021, but he has many fans among President Trump’s alumni. There are other servicemen and women on the list. It’s easy enough to categorize them using filters named in honor of our friends and adversaries, former presidents (and the majority of the Senate, in the case of positions that require confirmation).
Some of these people could easily move from the international relations or national security areas of government to domestic agencies, but a few, like Friedman, may want to return to their old jobs. unknown. But Mr. Glass, a Westerner, could end up in the top job at the Interior Department, Mr. Washburn, a serious businessman, could end up in the Treasury or Commerce Department, and Mr. Ortagus could end up in the Department of Homeland Security. Importantly, Trump is in a far better position to transition after the election this November than in November 2024.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures to supporters during an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 24, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
President Trump may not want to name specific Cabinet members, but when such a list comes from a candidate and his campaign, like the 2016 list of Supreme Court nominees, it’s a sign of respect. It will be of great help in solving the problem.
Ask yourself whether Mr. Xi is more concerned about Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin or Secretary of Defense Pompeo. Does our enemy think he’s more worried about NSA O’Brien or Sullivan? I think Mr. Grenell is the perfect White House chief of staff, but if he can pass Senate scrutiny, Secretary of State Grenell will cause more heartburn in Tehran than Secretary Blinken does now? What about Morgan Ortagus at DHS, not the recently impeached Secretary Mjorkis? Who are the cartel more concerned about: AG Merrick Garland, Tom Cotton, or John Ratcliffe?
All of these hypotheses are easy to answer. Even if it’s general and not job-specific, there’s a lot of good in the list, so I hope the candidate moves in that direction. Until President Trump does, traditional media will continue to publish cheap hits like Monday’s Politico. There, all the recorded statements against Trump came from anonymous sources and people who would never have been asked to do so in Trump’s second term. If revealed, it will prove worthy of the title of anonymous.
The list of serious people who would accept President-elect Trump’s invitation to serve is long. I’m going to reveal to you that this list has nothing but positives.
Hugh Hewitt is one of the country’s leading centre-right journalists. A son of Ohio State and a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996, teaching constitutional law. Hewitt started his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990, and it is now syndicated to hundreds of stations and stations across the United States every Monday through Friday morning. Hewitt frequently appears on every major national news television network, hosts television programs on PBS and MSNBC, writes for every major American newspaper, has written 12 books, and has written for numerous Republican candidates. He has moderated debates, most recently moderating the November 2023 Republican presidential debate. He participated in four Republican presidential debates in Miami and 2015-2016. Hewitt focuses his radio show and this column on the Constitution, national security, American politics, the Cleveland Browns and the Guardians. Over his 40 years on the air, Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republicans George W. Bush and President Donald Trump. This column previews the major stories driving today’s radio programming.
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